The forensic analysis of soils and sediment taken from the cast of a footprint

The routine production of a cast of a shoe-print taken in soil provides information other than shoe size and gait. Material adhering to the surface of the cast represents the preservation of the moment of footprint impression. The analysis of the interface between the cast and soil is therefore a potentially lucrative source of information for forensic reconstruction. These principles are demonstrated with reference to a murder case which took place in the English Midlands. The cast of a footprint provided evidence of a two-way transfer of material between the sole of a boot and the soil of a recently ploughed field. Lumps of soil, which had dried on a boot, were deposited on the field as the footprints were made. Pollen analysis of these lumps of soil indicated that the perpetrator of the imprint had been standing recently in a nearby stream. Fibre analysis together with physical and chemical characteristics of the soil suggested a provenance for contamination of this mud prior to deposition of the footprint. Carbon/nitrogen ratios of the water taken from the cast showed that distilled water had been used thus excluding the possibility of contamination of the boot-soil interface. It was possible to reconstruct three phases of previous activity of the wearer of the boot prior to leaving the footprint in the field after the murder had taken place. This analysis shows the power of integrating different independent techniques in the analysis of hitherto unrecognised forensic materials.     

Association of sexual revictimization with sexuality and psychological function

This study explores the associations of sexual revictimization (experiencing sexual abuse in childhood and adulthood) in a sample of 230 African American women who are low-income. Data indicate that women who experience sexual revictimization are more at risk for emotional stress and psychological pathology than women with no history of abuse. In addition, women who are revictimized appear to be at greater risk for emotional problems than women sexually abused only as a child or sexually assaulted only as adults. Revictimization also appears to be associated with an increased probability of engaging in prostitution, even higher than women with childhood- or adult-only victimization, who showed increased probability when compared to women never abused. Finally, women who are revictimized showed increased HIV risk, in that they were 4 times less likely than other women to consistently use condoms, but no more likely to be in monogamous relationships or less likely to have multiple partners.     

Work Choices and the Radical Revision of the Public Realm of Australian Statutory Labour Law

Australia’s statutory labour law has undergone very significantamendment following the enactment of the Workplace RelationsAmendment (Work Choices) Act 2005 (the Work Choices Act). Thisarticle argues that the new law radically revises the publicrealm of labour law established through the century-old systemof conciliation and arbitration. The Act seeks to strip backthe influence of trade unions and the traditional regulator,the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. It generatesa realm of private employer power, augmented where necessarywith direct intervention by Executive government to ensure thatthe old system does not re-emerge. The Work Choices Act is remarkablein its use of statutory language to obscure and defer meaning.The processes of its making were also marked by a reluctanceof the government to explain or even acknowledge the importof the law. It is tentatively concluded that the Act is a productof the mix of ideological, pragmatic and psychological motivationsunderlying its creation.